Re-Digging the Wells of Revival: Dutch Sheets’ Visits to Cane Ridge and Wales

10/3/2015

The Welsh Revival in 1898 (Sermonindex.com)

Scripture makes it clear that the Lord accomplishes His purposes on the earth not through one man or movement, but through the labors and legacy of many across multiple generations (Heb. 11:39-12:2). Working through a divine timeline that extends beyond a single lifetime, the Lord desires that we honor and build upon the foundations laid by those who have gone before us.

In Genesis 26, we are told that when Isaac dug water wells, he didn’t get to start with his own. Isaac recognized his hereditary right and responsibility to re-dig and restore the ancient wells of his father Abraham, which the Philistines stopped up after he died.

It was after re-digging his father’s wells that that the Lord appeared to Isaac and pronounced over him the same blessing previously spoken over Abraham. Not long after that, the Lord allowed Isaac’s servants to unearth his very own well.

I have spent more than a decade of my life teaching about the synergy of the ages; exhorting believers that in order for us to move forward in fulfilling God’s purposes for our generation, we must reach back to remember, honor and add to what He has done through previous generations. Through a recent sequence of events, however, the Lord once again invited me to tap into some historic wells of revival in order to release a fresh river of His glory to flow into our generation.

A few months ago, I was invited to minister at a small log cabin-style church in Kentucky, which happens to be the site of the historic Cane Ridge Revival of the late 1800s. During that powerful move of the Holy Spirit, tens of thousands of people came by wagon to the hillsides of Kentucky, hungry to hear the preaching of the Word and bask in the glory of God for days at a time. At these camp meetings, it was common to see dozens of ministers preaching simultaneously across the countryside, while multitudes were strewn along the ground, being moved upon by the extremely weighty presence of God. This revival swept through the southern states and beyond, helping to birth the Second Great Awakening! I found it most interesting that the Lord set up my itinerary in such a way that from Cane Ridge, He sent me to Wales—another extremely significant site of revival history!

Moving From Well to Well

The nation of Wales is the place where revivalist Evan Roberts was baptized in the fire of God and commissioned by the Lord as a leader in the world-reaching Welsh Revival of the early 1900s. So many people were radically saved in that spiritual outpouring, that the nation of Wales experienced societal transformation. Judges had no cases to try, and law enforcement officials had no crime to deal with, so they formed traveling evangelistic singing groups!

The presence of God was so strong among the common people that pubs closed down, sporting events were cancelled, thousands of depressed and drunken miners came to Jesus, and hundreds left everything behind to give their lives on the foreign mission field. It is believed that since the 1900s, there has never been a revival in world history that cannot trace its roots back to the nation-shaking Welsh Revival.

Wales was also home to Rees Howells, another significant contributor to revival history. His life of intercession, chronicled in the biography, Rees Howells Intercessor, has greatly influenced many people and movements of prayer, myself included. After being powerfully swept into the Welsh Revival, this former miner-turned-missionary devoted the rest of his life to serving the purposes of God for his generation—in the place of prayer.

In 1924 Howells founded The Bible College of Wales to train others in what the Lord had taught him. That place soon became a house of prayer for all nations, with students and staff joining Howells in fighting world battles on their knees. What transpired on that small campus unquestionably affected the course of world history, and has left a legacy of prayer that the Lord is inviting us to lay hold of today.

Fighting the Battles of the Kingdom

Howells’ intercessors prayed all through World War II, engaging in the spiritual warfare necessary to take down the demonic powers encroaching upon the governments of nations through the dictatorial leadership of men like Hitler, Stalin and Mussolini. They also prayed fervently through the 1948 U.N.-mandated vote on Israel’s status as a nation. Even after Howells’ passing, their ardent intercession continued under the leadership of his son, Samuel. They prayed through the Cuban missile crises, the Cold War between the U.S. and the USSR, and also helped pray in the signs and wonders movement of the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s.

Their story could be likened to Moses’ hilltop intercession affecting Joshua’s frontline battle. Scripture states that as long as Moses held up the staff of God in his hand, Joshua and Israel prevailed, but when Moses let his hands down, the enemy prevailed. Through this prophetic act of intercession—lifting up the rod, which represented the authority and power of God—the Lord faithfully responded by releasing victory on the battlefield (Ex. 17:8-16.) Likewise, Howells and his intercessors continually “held up” spiritual authority in the heavenly realms while soldiers experienced miraculous breakthroughs, enabling them to execute victory on the battlefield.

During WWII in particular, God would give Howells prophetic insight concerning what was going to happen next and where they needed to strategically focus their intercession. After class each day, these devoted intercessors would contend in travailing prayer for hours and hours on end, sometimes praying through the night. They were determined to match in the spirit realm, the level of intensity and self-sacrifice experienced by heads of nations and soldiers on the frontlines of battle.

Impassioned about fulfilling their godly calling, Howells said, “If I am not called up to fight, and I know another way to help them and I don’t do it, I ought to be killed instead of them. They are facing death … for you and me. If they suffer more than we suffer for them, it will be our lifelong shame.” Howells and his students gave their lives to fighting the battles spiritually as if they were called to the frontlines of the war. With each new assignment, these hidden intercessors prevailed in their prayers, and the world marveled and breathed heavy sighs of relief at such dramatic turnarounds.

Re-Digging a Well

Despite the rich revival history at The Bible College of Wales, this spiritual well had fallen into disrepair. After the death of Howells’ son, Samuel, the directors of the school found it too costly to maintain the campus and keep the school running. For decades, the property went further into decay and was about to be sold to a developer for housing.

The Lord, however, had other plans and saw to it that this spiritual well was preserved and unstopped. He moved upon the heart of a pastor from Singapore, who not only caught God’s vision for restoring that place but also was willing to pay the price to make it happen. This pastor raised $10 million to purchase and restore the historic Bible College of Wales so that people from around the world could drink from this well of revival once again!

As a student of revival history, a teacher on intercession, and one called to awaken this nation to the purposes of God through prayer, it has always been a great desire of my heart to visit Wales and drink from its spiritual wells. Right after my time of ministry at Cane Ridge, I had the great honor of not only visiting the Bible College of Wales, but also serving as a key participant in the rededication ceremony for this historic well of revival.

During our stay at the Bible College, Ceci and I were assigned to the room of Rees’ son, Samuel Howells. This room sits directly above the prayer room where decades of nation-changing prophetic intercession took place—what a privilege! Among the gathering of key leaders from around the world, I was also extended the honor of rededicating Howells’ Ebenezer stone of remembrance (1 Sam. 7:12).

Similar to what the prophet Samuel did to commemorate Israel’s victory against their enemies, Howells set up a huge stone as a continual reminder of the Lord’s providence and provision. Inscribed on one side of its marble top is the phrase, “Faith Is Substance.” On the other side, the words, “Jehovah Jireh.” When, as part of the rededication ceremony, this remembrance stone was relocated to the center of the campus and anointing oil was poured upon it, we could sense the glory of the Lord.

In that very holy moment, God met with me in a powerful way. I was overcome with the Lord’s kindness at gathering us all to this place to drink from this historic well. In that moment, I pledged to help carry on Howells’ legacy of prayer and recommitted my life to raising up a movement of prayer to take out the giants of our day and usher in a Third Great Awakening.

The rededication ceremony at the Bible College was not the only special appointment the Lord had planned for me. The same Singaporean leaders that restored Howells’ campus also purchased the little church in Wales where revivalist Evan Roberts met with God.

During the renovation process for converting that church into a house of prayer, the original Bible used by Evan Roberts during the Welsh Revival was found sitting under decades of dust on the pulpit of the church! I marveled at this find. You can see the Bible and the remembrance stone among the pictures below.

Paying the Price

I am so grateful for the Singaporeans who accepted the Lord’s invitation to take on the extremely costly and painstaking restoration of this well of revival history. But the investment required for releasing God’s river of revival into the nations of the earth doesn’t end with restored facilities.

God desires to raise up Roberts-like revivalists and bands of Howells-like intercessors through which He can release a greater awakening and shift the course of nations today. This will require a high level of commitment. These men were so powerfully used of God because they complied with the great extremes God required of them. This is a principle repeatedly seen in Scripture.

As I prayer walked the grounds of the Bible College of Wales, while I communed with the Lord in the church where Evan Roberts met with God, and even now, I hear Holy Spirit asking, “Who will pay the price in this generation?” God used Howells and his intercessors to contend against and defeat the demonic powers and principalities trying to take over the world.

Today, the goliaths of Islam, communism, human trafficking, abortion and the sexual rights agenda are standing at our door. Never has there been more at stake. We need the same warrior spirit of Howells’ era to arise in us—both in the place of prayer and in being a prophetic voice. No doubt, God has a plan. He always does something great in the face of the impossible!

I believe the Lord allowed for the restoration of these spiritual wells in Wales because He is releasing a spirit of contending prayer and revival into the nations of the earth once again. I believe we will see a new momentum of intercession—appealing to heaven and fighting kingdom battles on our knees, until the greatest Great Awakening the world has ever seen occurs.

You are a part of this! There is a spiritual inheritance available to you. Young people, especially, it is your time to arise! The Lord is anointing you to overthrow the Goliaths of our day and contend for the destinies of nations. The Lord is searching for those who will say, “I will pay the price.” For those who invest their lives in these costly battles of intercession, He will show Himself strong! (See 2 Chronicles 16:9.)

Dutch Sheets is an internationally recognized teacher, conference speaker and author of The Power of Hope. He has written more than 20 books, translated into over 30 languages. His first work, Intercessory Prayer, sold nearly a million copies and is being used to empower believers worldwide for passionate prayer and societal transformation.

In August 1904 Torrey held a service in the city of Cardiff Wales that resulted in many salvations. Only two month later Evan Roberts held his famous prayer meeting in Moriah Calvinistic Methodist Chapel
66-68 Glebe Road Loughor Wales only a few miles from Cardiff. The Welsh revival began sweeping 100,000 people into the Kingdom and the society was dramatically changed. See http://www.moriahchapel.org.uk/index.php?page=1904-revival

Alfred Deakin was Australia’s 2nd Prime Minister who was also the nation’s founding father! Australian’s know very little about the man who served his nation so faithfully, with such dedication and humility that even his political enemies loved and admired him.

He established the Australian High Court; he was the founder of the Navy and pioneered many of Australia’s foundations. He worked tirelessly towards seeing the unification of the Australian colonies into a great federation and made Australia one nation. In the first Federal government he was Attorney General and Edmund Barton’s right hand man. Serving as Prime Minister for 3 terms, his Government passed more than 17 critical pieces of legislation and provided important national stability in a very chaotic unstable period.

He was one of the world’s greatest orators of his time, extremely literate; he read 100 books (in English and French) every year for much of his life. Few people understood where his incredible energy, humility and character came from, but the secret was his prayer life.

He wrote down 400 prayers in a small private journal and within these pages are words of profound insight, humility and desire to know the will of God and a desire to be filled with Gods spirit so he could be empowered to serve his nation.

He saw Heaven and heard Gods voice speak to him. Deakin was coming home late one night from Parliament, to his house in South Yarra that was one block from Melbourne botanical gardens – it was just after he lost the election in April 1910 and he was feeling jaded and his nerves were on edge. It was then he heard a voice saying to him, in a pleasant, cheerful and a colloquial tone “Finish your job and turn in” Deakin said ” as if it had come by telegram or cable from afar, but from a living sender much better informed, of far wider outlook and deeper insight and higher authority than my own reflections supply”

Fuchida was more excited than usual as he awoke that morning. As general commander of the air squadron, he made some last-minute checks on intelligence information before going to warm up his plane.

Three hundred and sixty Japanese planes led by Captain Fuchida headed toward Hawaii on 7th Jan 1941. He knew the objective of this mission: to surprise and cripple the American naval force in the Pacific.

The destruction left behind included 20 naval vessels including eight enormous battleships with over 200 planes. The human cost was over 2000 military and civilians killed and more than a 1000 injured.

Fuchida was the first over the target and the last to leave. It was his voice that sent his aircraft carrier the message “Tora! Tora! Tora!” (Tiger! Tiger! Tiger!) indicating the success of the surprise mission.

This was the same commander that led the first of the two attacks in one day on Darwin. At the end of the day 243 ( some say 3-4 times that number) civilians and servicemen were dead and more than 400 injured. Captain Fuchida led a total of 242 (not 93) Japanese planes against Darwin on that fateful day of 19th Feb 1942.

After Pearl Harbour, he had many close brushes with death including six crashes into the sea. Recovering on board after an appendectomy, the ship was bombed and both his legs were broken and he was thrown into the sea. He realised he was the sole survivor of the seven Air Commanders and the thirty-two squadron leaders who took part in the Pearl Harbour attack.

After Okinawa fell in June 1945, he was ordered to Hiroshima to organize aerial defenses for a final stand against the Allied juggernaut. On the evening of Aug 5, Fuchida was abruptly directed toattend a briefing 500 miles away. The Atom Bomb was dropped on Hiroshima – August 6th, 1945. It was not until the war was over that he was to realise why God had kept him from death on so many occasions. After the surrender by Japan, his military career was over and he became more unhappy and depressed. This was further aggravated by his call to be a witness at the war crimes trials.

On his way to give evidence and as he got off the train he was handed a leaflet entitled “I was a Prisoner of Japan.” The leaflet produced by the Pocket Testament League was the experience of Jake DeShazer who was one of the Doolittle Raiders whose carrier-launched B-25s bombed Japan in 1942. Seen here (far right) on USS Hornet just before leaving,DeShazer’s plane crash-landed in China, where Japanese occupiers captured and imprisoned him. Jake described how he was cruelly treated. He told about his violent hatred for the Japanese guards.

But one day, the prisoners in the camp were given Bibles. As Jake read it he came to understand that the book was more than an historical story. Its message of love, grace and forgiveness became relevant to him right there in his cell and he accepted Jesus to come into his life. His life changed and his entire attitude toward his captors changed too. His hatred turned to love and concern, and he decided that should his country win the war, and he be set free, he would someday return to Japan to introduce others to this life-changing Bible. Jake DeShazer did return to Japan after the war and for 30 years he was a missionary sharing the
love and forgiveness of Christ. In a youtube interview, he says in 1948 in just over 10 days more than 30,000 Japanese accepted Christ as their saviour.

Now Fuchida had Jake’s story, printed in leaflet form, in his hand. It was all about a forgiveness and a peace he could not understand and could not explain. Since the American had found this forgiveness and peace in the Bible, he decided to purchase a Bible.
Eagerly he read the Bible and sought help from the Pocket Testament League representative on how to become a Christian. Now he understood about the love of Jesus and for the first time he understood the meaning of Jesus dying as a substitute for his sin.
His actions at Pearl Harbour could not be changed, but now he was aware of why God had kept him from harm. His new mission in life was to tell others how they can overcome the hatred in their hearts and minds.

He learnt that Jesus is the only One who was powerful enough to change his life and inspire him with God’s thoughts. Jesus was the only answer to Jake DeShazer’s tormented life and He is still the only real answer for people today.

God’s forgiveness is powerful and life-giving. When we feel it deep down it can be infectious and really change our lives.

Is there someone who would benefit from your forgiveness today?

Written by Tim White: DIDUNO

This link takes you to Stares and Strips a US army website that tells the story in more detail. Enjoy! http://www.stripes.com

These two men are well known for their out spoken position on the mistakes global leaders are making, that may well crash the financial system. They believe that centralized banking is what is causing the problems in our global economies.

David Stockman will take you back to before world war 1 and explain what has happened and how history could have been very different if a few people made a few different decisions. We would have been living in a very prosperous world for ALL people and not just a select few.

David Stockman Talks Historical Dominoes

He is a former Congressman from Michigan, former Director of the Office of Management and Budget under President Ronald Reagan, and former partner at The Blackstone Group. Stockman is the author of The Triumph of Politics: Why the Reagan Revolution Failed (1986) and 2013’s The Great Deformation: The Corruption of Capitalism in America. On the show today we discussed how some of his work traces “historical dominoes.” It was fascinating to learn how certain events in history led to others and so on, until we wind up with thus and so… For example: how did the creation of the Fed in 1913 lead to the 2008 crisis? What was the chain of events?

Gerald Celente Talks Global Collapse

Gerald Celente is an American trend forecaster, publisher of the Trends Journal, business consultant and author who makes predictions about the global financial markets and other events of historical importance.

Gerald can get a little excited in his interviews and this one is no exception – but don’t let that detract – the interviewer gets him back on track and he has some profound things to share including this desire to stay in USA and fight for the freedom of the country through a new initiative called http://occupypeace.us/ It seems like a new Revolution is beginning!

In the decades prior to the Revolutionary War, tensions arose between the two largest global powers: Britain, led by King George II, and France, led by King Louis XV.
Because of their many alliances with other nations, fighting escalated into the first global war – the Seven Years War, or as it was called in America, the French and Indian War. The conflict included every major power in Europe as well as their colonies from the Caribbean, to India, to the Philippines and to Africa. Over a million died. It was sparked by the ambush in 1754 of a French detachment in the Ohio Valley by British militia led by 22-year-old Virginia Colonel George Washington.

At this time the Great Awakening Revival swept through colonial America. A notable dissenting preacher, Samuel Davies, spread revival across racial lines and was heard by many in Virginia, including Patrick Henry, who credited Davies with “teaching me what an orator should be.” George Washington Praying.

In 1755, 1,400 British troops marched over the Appalachian Mountains to seize French Fort Duquesne, near present-day Pittsburgh. One of the wagon drivers was 21-year-old Daniel Boone.

On July 9, 1755, as they passed through a deep wooded ravine along the Monongahela River eight miles south of the fort, they were ambushed by French regulars and Canadians accompanied by Potawatomi and Ottawa Indians. Not accustomed to fighting unless in an open field, over 900 British soldiers were annihilated in the Battle of the Wilderness, or Battle of Monongahela

Col. George Washington rode back and forth during the battle delivering orders for General Edward Braddock, the commander-in-chief of British forces in America. General Braddock was trying to get his soldiers into a formation typical of European warfare, which tragically made them an open target for the French and Indians who were firing from behind trees. Eventually, Braddock was killed and every officer on horseback was shot, except Washington. Washington carried Braddock from the field.

Braddock’s field desk was captured, revealing all the British military plans, enabling the French to surprise and defeat British forces in succeeding battles at Fort Oswego, Fort William Henry, Fort Duquesne and Carillon. These British losses convinced the Iroquois tribes of Senecas and Cayugas to switch their allegiances to the French.

Before he died, Braddock gave Washington his battle uniform sash, which Washington reportedly carried with him the rest of his life, even while commander-in-chief and president. Washington presided at the burial service for General Braddock, as the chaplain was wounded. Braddock’s body was buried in the middle of the road so as to prevent it from being found and desecrated.

Shortly thereafter, writing from Fort Cumberland, George Washington described the Battle of Monongahela to his younger brother, John Augustine Washington, July 18, 1755: “As I have heard, since my arrival at this place, a circumstantial account of my death and dying speech, I take this early opportunity of contradicting the first, and of assuring you, that I have not as yet composed the latter. But by the All-Powerful Dispensations of Providence, I have been protected beyond all human probability or expectation; for I had four bullets through my coat, and two horses shot under me, yet escaped unhurt, although death was leveling my companions on every side of me!”

Reports of the Battle of Monongahela spread across the country. On July 8, 1755, Mary Draper Ingels had been kidnaped from her home in Draper Meadows, Virginia by a band of Shawnee Indians. She escape in mid-winter, as recorded in her biography, and trekked nearly one thousand miles back home. At one point during her captivity, she overheard a meeting that the Shawnee had with some Frenchmen. They described in detail the British defeat in the battle of Monongahela at Duquesne, and how the Indian Chief Red Hawk claimed to have shot Washington eleven times, but did not succeed in killing him.

Fifteen years later, Washington and Dr. Craik, a close friend of his from his youth, were traveling through those same woods near the Ohio river and Great Kanawha river. They were met by an old Indian chief, who addressed Washington through an interpreter: “I am a chief and ruler over my tribes. My influence extends to the waters of the great lakes and to the far blue mountains. I have traveled a long and weary path that I might see the young warrior of the great battle.

“It was on the day when the white man’s blood mixed with the streams of our forests that I first beheld this Chief. I called to my young men and said, mark yon tall and daring warrior? He is not of the red-coat tribe – he hath an Indian’s wisdom, and his warriors fight as we do – himself alone exposed. Quick, let your aim be certain, and he dies. Our rifles were leveled, rifles which, but for you, knew not how to miss – `twas all in vain, a power mightier far than we, shielded you.

“Seeing you were under the special guardianship of the Great Spirit, we immediately ceased to fire at you. I am old and soon shall be gathered to the great council fire of my fathers in the land of shades, but ere I go, there is something bids me speak in the voice of prophecy: Listen! The Great Spirit protects that man and guides his destinies – he will become the chief of nations, and a people yet unborn will hail him as the founder of a mighty empire. I am come to pay homage to the man who is the particular favorite of Heaven, and who can never die in battle.”

An Indian warrior later declared: “Washington was never born to be killed by a bullet! I had seventeen fair fires at him with my rifle and after all could not bring him to the ground!”